The desirability of Zoysia grass in the making of beautiful lawns is widely recognized with a resulting great demand for Zoysia sod in all regions including some where the Zoysia grass is not natively grown but can be grown successfully. In satisfying the demands for Zoysia grass plugs to be planted by home owners and others, a number of problems exist in connection with shipping the sod or sod plugs in a reasonably fresh living state to the consumer and in shipping the product at a reasonable cost to the consumer. If the sod is packaged and shipped in the same state or condition which prevails when it is harvested, it may contain so much moisture and excess soil as to render it too heavy and bulky for mailing or shipment by commercial package carriers. Also, the sod in its natural state is extremely tough and wiry and very hard to separate by the consumer in small plugs for planting in a lawn in the customary fashion. Available containers are generally unsuitable for shipping the Zoysia sod in terms of their ability to contain moisture without leaking during shipment and to maintain the sod in a living state during shipment to distant regions which in practice may involve up to a week or more of travel time. Containers which might be suitable for this purpose are too expensive to be feasible.
The present invention has arisen as a result of a major effort to overcome all of the above problems involved in preparing Zoysia sod for packaging and shipment in an economical manner and in such a way that the product can be employed by the ultimte user in the most convenient and efficient manner.